15 great books for making your own gadgets

We love to regularly bring you stories about cool electronics projects that you can take on yourself -- things like DIY solar chargers, how to make your own Tesla Coil or an LED flashlight made from hex nuts. We know some of you already have some experience tinkering away and making your own gadgets, but many of you may be wondering where and how to start.

We've rounded up some of the best DIY guides and tomes to help introduce you to specific devices like Raspberry Pi or Arduino or, if you're more experienced, provide some inspiration for your next big build. That way, next time we feature an Arduino-powered robot, you'll be ready to take the project on.

Intro to DIY Gadgets

If you're a true novice, before you head to a device-specific guide, you may want to start with what is widely considered the ultimate introduction to making electronics. Through 36 experiments, the book's description states "you'll learn learn the basics of voltage, amperage, resistance, capacitance, inductance, and other fundamentals. And then it’s on to logic gates, analog-to-digital conversion (ADC), and integrated circuits. Along the way, you’ll also meet the scientists and the fundamental discoveries that have made modern electronics possible. By the time you’re done, you’ll have a solid working knowledge of electronics and will be ready to confidently venture off into the worlds of hobby electronics, microcontrollers, and robotics."

Once you've read through Make: Electronics, this book takes you to the next level, teaching you how to apply all of that new knowledge into functioning gadgets. Sensors, solar cells, GPS, microcontrollers, LCD displays, prototyping and more are all covered.

When it comes to DIY gadgets, the only limit is one's imagination, but sometimes it helps to have a little mechanical knowledge to successfully create what you envision. The book description says "this book is for anyone who has ever wanted to make something that moves but didn't know where to start." The projects include a drawing machine, a mini wind turbine, a mousetrap powered car and more and it covers topics like 3D printing and laser cutting too.

Raspberry Pi

This book, a Make Magazine publication, takes you from the very beginning set up of the microcomputer including installing the operating system all the way to guiding you through two beginner-level hands-on projects. After reading this, you'll be ready to tackle a few of the great Rasbperry Pi projects the web has to offer.

This book, written by one of the co-founders of Raspberry Pi, also provides a general introduction to the tiny computer as well as ways for educators to incorporate the devices in their classrooms, how to connect the computer to other hardware, how to install software and even how to set up things like a multimedia center or drive a robot.

Arduino

This book promises to have users with no electronics experience making Arduino-powered gadgets within a few minutes. It features instructions for making a universal remote, a burglar alarm that emails you whenever someone's moving in your living room and many other projects.

Once you've mastered the basics, this book provides you with over 200 tips and techniques for building a variety of objects and prototypes that interact with the physical world using the Arduino platform -- things like toys, detectors, robots, and interactive clothing that can sense and respond to touch, sound, position, heat, and light.

A quick combination of introduction to the device and project instructions, this book explains how to attach an Arduino board to your computer, program it, and connect electronics to it to create 30 different fun projects like a Morse code translator, pulse rate monitor and magnetic door lock.

3D Printing

This buyer's guide by Make Magazine compares all of the current models of 3D printers and tells you what are the best buys, what software is best suited for your needs, and of course, provides you with a few cool projects to create with your new 3D printer. If you're interested in 3D printing, this is a quick, easy overview.

If you want to dig deeper into the science and creative possibilities behind 3D printing, this is good resource. This book gives you step-by-step instructions for calibrating, customizing, and creating models, including 3D printed text, a warship model, a robot platform, windup toys, and arcade-inspired alien invaders.

This book is for the 3D printing enthusiast and newbies alike because it's less instruction and more of an exploration of what 3D printing means for the future of manufacturing, electronics, biotechnology and more. If you're interested in the implications and potential applications of this burgeoning technology, this would be a cool one to check out.

Home Automation

Programming Your Home builds upon the experience you've gained reading about and tinkering with Arduino to complete cool home automation projects like a phone application that alerts you to package deliveries at your front door, an electronic guard dog that will prevent unwanted visitors, smartphone-controlled door locks and a bird feeder that sends a tweet to tell you when the birds are feeding.

A perfect marriage of Raspberry Pi and Arduino, this book takes you from basic introductory instruction on using the technologies to home automation projects that utilize both to adjust your living environment, from lighting to heating and cooling and more.

Solar Power

If you want to get some solar tech into your home, but don't want to pay a fortune to do so, this book shows you how to harvest the sun with DIY solar projects like solar cell phone chargers, solar cookers, hot−water heaters, hot−air collectors all the way to off−grid systems for small cabins.